Looking at the big picture

I just sold a picture, of a cow, for more than I ever have sold a picture for before. For some reason, when I saw the price, contingent on how large the photo runs of course, what came to my mind first was my mom asking an 8-or-so-year-old me why I thought I needed to take so many pictures of cows. I had to chuckle at how life turns out.
She was likely looking through the latest order she had picked up from the local drug store, and was gazing upon four of those paper envelope's worth of pictures, 95 percent of them being of cows, all of which I had made sure to get duplicates of. We do all remember what ordering pictures was like in the 1990's, right?
Even back then I would almost always have my camera and extra roll of film on me, and would happily crawl up fences, lay in dusty corrals and get soaking wet while snapping away at cattle, other ranch animals and anything else I found interesting. The sheer volume of cow photos I turned out resulted in a lot of good natured teasing from my family, and the occasional exasperated question similar to the one above from my mom, usually when she got home from picking up photos.

I took them out of my joy for cattle, which hasn't lessoned over the years, and I needed duplicates because I might frame one, and need the second for my 4-H record book, or just to have.
As I grew up, this photographing of cows only intensified. I would proudly show off my latest angle, and be told it looked just like the last 10 I had also proudly showed. There is no tougher critic than a member of my family, which I'm grateful for because they made me strive to come up with something new, different, better.
Over time, the frequency with which I was told my latest image looked just like the last 10 diminished, and more of my photos were given the stamp of family approval. However even today, you can see boredom begin creeping in if I show more than three similar photos in a row.

I also learned with time that no two people look at picture the same way, and that within a single image you will find people who love it and people who dislike it.
After aging out of 4-H, I decided to try entering photos in the county and state fairs. They did surprisingly well. A friend who saw them recommended I apply for a job at the University of Wyoming as a freelance photographer. I did, they hired me, the next year I was the paper's photo editor, then a professor's daughter asked me to photograph her wedding.
I continued entering photos in fairs, and received a "Best of Show" award at the Wyoming State Fair my second year. As my mom congratulated me on the award, she noted how funny life is that I had worked within the 4-H program for 11 years, and never won such a big ribbon at the state fair.
Following college there was more freelance work for an increasing number of publications, both mainstream and agriculture based. Then, I was hired as the assistance editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, which introduced me to editorial writing in addition to photography.

A year and a half later  I left the paper, returned to my family's ranch and began my freelance career in earnest, broadening the list of publication's I wrote and took pictures for, and basically working like a madwoman because I was living my dream. Tucked away in the far reaches of rural Wyoming, surrounded by cattle and enough Internet service to send out an article most days, I was thrilled.

Then I fell in love, got married and moved to western South Dakota this summer. While I planned to just continue on with business as usual for the first few months, God had other plans. In the midst of the craziness that has surrounded us since our July wedding, I have been blessed with increased and new business within both my writing and photography careers.
Then this morning I sold a picture for more than I ever have before. And all this hit me, and I had to call and tell my mom, who was beyond excited for me. I also had to remind her of all those years ago, when she asked me about taking so many cow pictures. She just chuckled and asked me if I wanted them all back.

In moments like this I'm very grateful that God works in mysterious ways, and for my parents. My mom and dad probably wondered why in the world their daughter had such an insatiable urge to both be in the cattle business and document every day of it with photographs, but they were supportive.
As a result, twenty years after she asked, I am finally able to give my mom an answer as to why I need so many cow pictures, and pay her back for all those rolls of film!

Highs and Lows

One month ago tomorrow is the day the Atlas blizzard began. While many have moved beyond it, those in my community continue to deal with it daily. It has been a bittersweet mix of highs and lows, and there is much to share with all of you.
First is my refreshed faith in humanity. I cannot believe the human kindness, outreach, concern, help and fortitude shown by people I know and have never met. Just today I am finishing an article for Tri-State Livestock News detailing the group Heifers for South Dakota's first donation of 20 head of bred cattle and 3 replacement-quality heifer calves to a young family who suffered a tremendous loss following the storm. This donation will likely be the tipping point that allows them to stay in the ranching business, and to hear the stories of all involved would warm anyone's heart.
There are also the ladies of my hometown, who are working to make Christmas baskets and get people to "adopt" impacted families to help them have a wonderful holiday season. They are meeting tonight to work out details and have been asking me daily for information to help them.
The random people who have emailed asking if I know a young person who lost a horse and would like a 4-H project, or who know of church groups looking to help or donate funds are another outstanding example of the true caliber of people and presence of God in rural America today.
I would also like to share that when the cards all fell, we were extremely blessed to not lose a single calf. Not only that, but they tipped the scales at 622 on sale day and brought an astounding price, knocking our recovery period down from a decade to (hopefully) closer to about five years.
However, the weight of those lost is still heavy on hearts. Everyone deals with such losses differently, and I seem to struggle daily with the loss of my husband and I's cattle, and especially my two cows.
One was the last calf of my first 4-H heifer, Sassy. I bought that 4-H heifer at 8-years-old from the family ranch, and my cow that died had over 100 years of Hamilton breeding behind her. Then there is the fact that her only daughter, and the last cow in that string of cattle, looks to be open. While I pray looks are deceiving in this case, I am also struggling to prepare myself to deal with what may be the end of the line of cows that started me in the business. I never imagined I would not have a cow that went back to Sassy, and now in the space of four months it appears that is not only a possibility, but likely a soon-to-be reality.
Trying to get caught up has been another constant struggle. Major weather events take time to recover from. There are still tree limbs to remove from fences, deceased cattle in one of our pastures too muddy to travel in, a lot of fence to fix, meetings to attend regarding the blizzard, paperwork and phone calls to make, all mixed in with the usual fall workload. While we're making headway, there is still so much to do that it can be overwhelming at times.
But, day after tomorrow marks my husband and I's four month anniversary. Yes, you count and celebrate months when your marriage starts out like ours has. And, while if we had it all to do over again we might have left my cows in Wyoming for the summer, other than that we are both so grateful to be married and have each other as we go through all these challenges.

The Atlas Blizzard in photos

A week ago we were dealing with the images below firsthand. Tuesday was the day of riding, searching, counting the living and tallying the dead. It was awful. One week later we are doing better. The initial emotional shock is wearing off, my husband and I are both holding colds fairly at bay and everyone is making headway toward recovering from this disaster, with full knowledge that we still have a long road ahead of us.

 



 One of my husband's cows that didn't make it as well as a couple calves belonging to a neighbor. Beyond them are some of the cattle that survived the storm.

 The scene on the fence line to the pasture our cattle were in prior to the storm. The majority of these animals are not ours, and our living cattle can be seen trailing up the road and back to their pasture. There is one of my cows in this area though, dead because she would not crawl through the fence with the rest of our herd.

 Everyone helped everyone, and shown are some of our neighbor's calves, which we put with our cattle and fed this week. The poor guy crawling through the fence was not all there mentally after his experience in the storm.

 My sister-in-law and I rode in search of our yearling heifers, counting and trailing everyone we found back home. These got out when a power line pole fell on the fence and they drifted over it. As you can see the ground didn't freeze and dealing with the deep mud was a big problem in getting around to check on animals, as was the deep snow on top of the mud.

The guilty power line pole. If not for it, we may not have lost any yearlings. Or, what we did lose may have been in a pile on this fence along with all you see alive in this picture.

This heifer was alone, stuck in the corner of a pasture by a winding creek filled with snow. Every time we drove her out to this corner, she headed back into the trees to stand in the same spot on the creek bank.

When my sister-in-law finally got off her horse to walk the heifer out, she found the reason behind her returning to the same location. All her buddies, and our missing count, were in the bottom of the creek.
This is a heifer we found buried in snow, but still alive! She is basically sitting on her butt, to give you an idea of how deep the snow was in this location.

These were not as fortunate.

 The gardener snake we also found partially buried, but alive.

 My father-in-law headed to the trees and creek where the buried alive heifer was located to help pull her out. Then she was carried in the tractor bucket to higher, dryer ground and propped up against a hay bale.

Carefully loading her up.

 My parents brought their feed pickup. loaded with food, water, a generator and a 4-wheeler, and helped us for two days. We are so blessed to have such amazing parents and families!

 Me, taking pictures for insurance and work purposes. This is next to the creek where our missing yearling heifers were found, including the one still alive.

At the end of the day, we were all worn out, including my sister-in-law and I, but it helped knowing for ourselves where we stood, what shape the livestock were in, and being able to move beyond the worry and concern of not knowing.

For those interested in learning more about the blizzard, who have questions regarding why we lost so many cattle, or who want to contribute toward helping those impacted, here are some additional links.

http://prettywork.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/questioning-cattle-deaths-in-south-dakota/

 

http://dairycarrie.com/2013/10/13/southdakotaatlas/

 

http://igrow.org/livestock/beef/understanding-what-happened/

 

https://www.facebook.com/RanchersRelief